For astronauts
living in space, coping with medical emergencies far from a hospital or trained
doctor can be a difficult and dangerous task. During future missions to the moon
and Mars, crewmembers' health and mission success will depend upon their ability
to deal with these emergencies with the help of a doctor on Earth. This challenge
is the focus of an upcoming NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations expedition,
NEEMO 7.

"Astronauts
navigating between planets won't be able to turn around and come home when someone
gets sick, and this undersea mission will help chart a course for long-distance
healing that can span such vast distances," said NEEMO Mission Director Bill Todd.

"Aquarius, with its physical
and psychological isolation on the floor of the Atlantic, will provide the real
stresses needed to validate telemedicine in an extreme environment," Todd said.

In
October, during a two-week stay in Aquarius, two NASA astronauts, a Canadian Space
Agency astronaut and a Canadian doctor will test telerobotic technology while
performing surgery on a simulated patient. They will work remotely with colleagues
at the Centre for Minimal Access Surgery (CMAS) at St. Joseph's Hospital, in Hamilton,
Ontario.

According
to Dr. Mehran Anvari, CMAS director, NEEMO 7 will demonstrate and evaluate innovative
remote technologies and procedures for remote surgery. Anvari, based in Hamilton,
Ontario, will use two-way telecommunication links to guide the aquanauts through
diagnosis and surgery on a mock patient inside Aquarius. Another simulation will
involve virtual reality control technology to guide telerobotic surgery on the
mock patient.

Crewmembers
will also perform scheduled dives, sampling and monitoring the watery environment
around the underwater habitat.